TUESDAY 6 AUGUST 2019Home news in brief
Matt Jones (right) and Steve Brooks at Goodwood aerodrome yesterday (PA)
Chocks away: Spitfire pilots on round-the-world marathon
Two British pilots have taken off on their challenge to fly a newly-restored Spitfire 27,000 miles around the
world in the first trip of its kind. Steve Brooks, 58, from Burford, Oxfordshire, and Matt Jones, 45, from
Exeter, Devon, will stop off at 100 locations in 30 countries during the five-month journey. The project,
named Silver Spitfire – The Longest Flight, set off from Goodwood aerodrome, the base of Boultbee Flight
Academy, the first-ever school for Spitfire pilots, in West Sussex. A glitzy event was held for the departure
attended by celebrities including Gone Girl actor Rosamund Pike, Rocketman star Taron Egerton and
Formula One driver David Coulthard.
Speaking ahead of take-off, Mr Jones said: “I’m a bit nervous but excited to get going. It’s been a long time
in planning and we’ve put a lot of work into this airplane.” Mr Brooks, who co-founded the school in 2010,
said: “The biggest challenge is the weather as well as some of the longer flights. The longest flight will be
Hong Kong to Vietnam which is 500 miles. The Spitfire was built as an interceptor which had a range of